Roger Gracie Thinks Chris Weidman Can Submit Any World-Class Grappler, Including Himself

Roger Gracie is known worldwide as one of the finest grapplers to ever hit the mat, as he’s taken home many a gold medal at both ADCC and The World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He has translated his high-level grappling prowess into a successful MMA career, where he sits with a 6-1 record. All of his wins have come by way of submission save for a decision win over Keith Jardine.

This summer, Gracie is set to take on the world’s best competition in the UFC. He’ll face fellow Strikeforce import Tim Kennedy at July’s UFC 162. But the main event of that card is obviously the fight that everyone has been talking about, as most believe that upstart number one contender Chris Weidman is truly the man to finally dethrone the Great Anderson Silva. The MMA community is abuzz about Weidman’s lethal mix of wrestling and top-shelf submission skills, and Gracie is no different. He recently met up with ESPN to discuss Weidman’s chances at the blockbuster summer event:

“I think [Weidman] is very, very dangerous. His grappling is at a very high level. He can submit any world-class grappler. I think he’s really that good. He can tap anyone, even me. It’s just a matter of if he can put Anderson in those situations. I would still put my money on Anderson but I think Chris Weidman is dangerous and can surprise him.”

High praise from a man who definitely knows what he’s talking about. Indeed, Weidman won The East Coast Grappler’s Quest Absolute Division after only training for three month’s at Matt Serra’s BJJ academy. That’s an insane learning curve, and one that makes Weidman unlike any other fighter that Silva has faced.

That phrase has become quite cliché however, as Silva has mightily dispatched each and every opponent that was supposed to present him with a new set of problems. Weidman may have more confidence than those other fighters, and if there’s any truth to Roger Gracie’s words, he may have more to offer in the way of technical grappling as well.

I think this is just humility from Roger. It's basically him saying, "If Chris Weidman got me in RNC position, he might actually be able to lock it in tight enough to choke me out, rather than me laughing and rolling over into his guard like I would almost everyone else." Weidman would not get such a position 99 times out 100 on Roger.

Who else has Weidman fought that's a world renowned BJJ champion? Demian Maia. Weidman won a boring decision and took the fight to the ground several times with his wrestling. Every single time the fight went to the ground however, Maia stood up within 5 seconds and just pushed him off. Keep in mind that at the time Maia was an undersized middleweight, had trained his standup extensively to prepare for Michael Bisping (only having 9 days notice for the switch to Weidman), and was sick at the time. So not exactly at his best. If you feel Roger is anywhere near as good a grappler as Maia, there's no way Weidman could hang with him.

Same thing I've been saying on here for months. The guys is a BJJ prodigy on the level of few outside of BJ Penn. Two come that far in grappling that quickly is astounding.

Side note: Right after winning that East coast grappler's quest Chris went on to the ADCC's where he took on Andre Galvao in the second round. The match went wire to wire with some excellent transitions, and Galvao just edged him. Galvao might be the best grappler in the world today.